Coppelia is based on ETA Hoffmann's sinister story, The Sandman, an early fantasy about a man attempting to breathe life into inanimate objects, a theme that reached its apotheosis in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Automata were the clockwork equivalent of robots and the moral issues surrounding their "reality" were similar to those regarding androids today.

The idea of an ageing loner building a realistic mechanical woman to "dance" to his whims can be interpreted in many ways and the ballet does not dwell on the potential perversity. Rather, it is a jolly romp.

Ronald Hynd's version of Marius Petipa's classical comic ballet is now in its third decade. Without any radical alterations in the story, he makes a few judicious additions and tightens some of the action. The result, as danced tonight by ENB's artistic director Tamara Rojo and her guest partner Alban Lendorf from Royal Danish Ballet, is an unqualified delight.

Tamara Rojo dances with perfect comic timing as a doll that comes to 'life' [ASH]

On the eve of his wedding to the village burgomaster's daughter Swanilda, young Franz is amorously distracted by a lifelike mechanical doll created by the mad inventor Dr Coppelius, a character based on Jacques Vaucanson, mechanician and pioneering automata-maker to the court of Louis XV.

Cue tantrums and tears, closely followed by curiosity and farcical revenge all conducted to the luminously tuneful score by Leo Delibes. If Hynd hasn't quite managed to prune the forest of mime that sprouts all over the first act, it is performed with such panache by the principals that it hardly matters.

Once she has put aside the vestiges of her recent tragic heroines, Rojo reveals immaculate comic timing as she shifts from innocent delight to pouting petulance.

As Franz, Lendorf brings an extraordinarily natural quality to the stage as well as fine dancing. He is one of those rare principals who seems like a real person, even in mid-entrechat, and his partnering of Rojo is assured and confident.

The second act is the make or break sequence in any production. As Swanilda and her girlfriends tiptoe into Dr. Coppelius's cottage to uncover her rival, while Franz is simultaneously trying to enter through a window, the comedy turns into broad farce, with several life-sized automata coming to life, while Swanilda is forced to impersonate the eponymous doll.

A challenge for any dancer - though Hynd reduces the number of steps danced on point - the role of a girl slipping between human and automaton is fraught with potential peril.

Rojo doesn't put a foot wrong, performing brilliantly as both doll and girl desperately trying to rouse a drugged Franz before Coppelius does more dastardly work with his fiendish steam punk devices.

The only thing here that needs a revamp is the set which is, I am bound to say, looking structurally unsafe.

Coppelia by the English National Ballet runs until November 8. For tickets for the London Coliseum and on tour, visit ballet.org.uk.